We use daily transactional ledger data from the Bank of England's Archive to test whether and to what extent the Bank of England during the mid-nineteenth century adhered to Walter Bagehot's rule that a central bank in a financial crisis should lend cash freely at a high interest rate in...

1. Introduction -- 2. Business, Monetary and Credit Cycles in Theory -- 3. Statistical and Econometric Analysis of the Cycle -- 4. GDP data for Analysing Business Cycles -- 5. Metrics and Turning Points of Cycles 1660-2018 -- 6. A Narrative History of UK Business Cycles -- 7. Conclusions

The National Monetary Commission was deeply concerned with importing best practice. One important focus was the connection between the money market and international trade. It was said that Britain's lead in the market for "acceptances" originating in international trade was the basis of its...